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Ed Kirshner of Oakland, California was born in New York City in 1940. He studied architecture and sculpture at Cornell University, the University of California at Berkeley and the Oskar Kokoschka School of Vision in Austria. After thirty years of developing and financing affordable housing, he returned to study art at the California College of the Arts in Oakland as well as at Pilchuck and Corning glass schools and Northlands Creative Glass in Scotland. His glass and gas plasma sculptures have been exhibited throughout the U.S. as well as in Taiwan, Japan, Australia, Austria, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Turkey. His work, “Cone of Chaos,” was a Corning Glass selection and is included in Corning’s “25 Years of New Glass Review.”

Ed’s plasma sculptures are in the permanent collections of the diRosa Fine Arts Preserve in Napa, California, the Swiss National Science Center, Technorama, near Zurich and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. He has taught glass and gas plasma workshops in the U.S. as well as in Asia and Europe and is on the faculty of the Crucible Fire Arts School in Oakland and the Glass Furnace in Turkey. He has also been a Trustee and the Treasurer of the Museum of Neon Art (MONA) in Los Angeles and is currently on its Technical Advisory Board. Recently, Ed was elected to the Board of the Glass Arts Society (GAS).

Keynote Speaker
Started working in glass in 1965 at UC Berkeley, in Berkeley, CA, and worked in California from 1965-1982.www.richardmarquis.com

Dick Marquis has been working in glass since 1965 (when he was seven years old) and has influenced an entire generation who aspire to his technical mastery and originality of voice. It is not easy being Dick.

Started working in glass in 1987 at Palomar College in San Marcos, CA.www.omgglass.com

After delving into everything from cabinetry to event production to yacht construction and repair, Dawson R. Kellogg enrolled at Palomar College in the San Diego area in the late 80’s, and stumbled into a glass and ceramics lab. He received his associate’s degree in Art from there, then a B.A. in Art Education from San Francisco State University, in 1993. A full scholarship offer from Kent State University secured his MFA studies and graduation in 1997; along the way he received three Pilchuck Partners scholarships. This fall Dawson begins his 15th year of service as the sole glass faculty of the Columbus College of Art & Design, where he teaches and manages the Fine Arts glass program.

Cassandra Straubing’s sculptural work addresses issues of domestic and industrial labor using multiple mediums and processes including glass casting, blowing and metal fabrication. Currently, she serves on the Board of Directors of the Glass Art Society and acts as the Glass Faculty Head and Studio Coordinator at San Jose State University in California, refining the program to its full potential.

Started working in glass in 1975 at California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) in Oakland, CA.www.quepasaglass.com

Bruce Pizzichillo began his glasswork in 1975 at CCAC and finished in 1980 with a BFA in glass. In 1984 he established Pizzichillo-Gordon Glass Studio with his wife and partner Dari Gordon in Oakland CA, making it the oldest running glassblowing studio in Oakland.

In 1988 he was the recipient of a fellowship to Creative Glass center of America, Wheaton Village, NJ. Bruce served as President of the non-profit Jazz in Flight, an organization for jazz music production and free children’s music classes from 1999-2005. His work has been featured in numerous publications and books such as Lark Books’ 500 Glass Objects, as well as being in several private, corporate and museum collections such as Pew Charitable Trust, Philadelphia PA; U.S. Embassy, Ottawa, Canada; Museum of American Glass, Millville, NJ; Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA. Bruce was featured annually for 17 years in Glass Now, a traveling exhibit of American glass art sponsored by the Yamaha Corporation throughout Japan.

Started working in glass in 1977 at John Kebrle Studio in Dallas, TX and has worked in California for 23 years.www.petermangan.com

For the last twenty-five years I have made my living as an artist. My artwork has been shown and collected in the U.S.A., Europe, and Japan. When I look back on pivotal experiences, certain events come to mind such as: my apprenticeship at Bullseye Glass Company in Portland, OR, 1983; being a Visiting Artist at the New York Experimental Glass Center, 1988; and traveling around the world in 1996 (NYC, Italy, Egypt, India, Thailand, Bali, Hawaii). Since 1998, I have had two studios, one in San Francisco, CA and the other in Blanco, TX in the heart of the Hill Country. Living and working in these diverse environments allows me to take on additional challenges and bring my artwork to a wider audience.

Started working in glass in 1978 at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, CA.www.markabildgaard.com

Mark Abilgaard received a B.A. degree in Art from San Francisco State University in 1979 and a M.F.A. degree in Art from the University of Hawaii in 1984. Since 1986 he has worked in his Northern California studio creating kiln cast sculptures.

Started working in glass in 2003 at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) in Oakland, CA.www.jonahward.com

Artist Jonah Ward (b. August 31, 1984) creates artwork that, in its most literal form, are compellingly aesthetic; in its most metaphorical, are a testament to our always relevant interaction with the natural world. His original and most prevalent series of work is composed of panels of wood stamped with what could be tar-like paint and printed with abstract designs and meanderings. Upon closer inspection, the different woods are scarred with burns: what is left over when Jonah drips, ladles, presses, cools, and peels molten glass from them. The final image essentially becomes a drawing formed with glass.

Jonah’s works are as much a product of his education as his background— born on Foster Mountain in Willits, California, raised on a historic homestead at the end of red dirt roads, and educated in a one-room schoolhouse. This intrinsic point of view has influenced his way of thinking as he continues to cultivate a dialog with nature. While requiring sustained physical interaction with natural materials, Jonah’s works are also paradoxically devoid of his literal touch or imprint. He acts more as a facilitator—harnessing natural processes and phenomenon, while still according them their proper respect for their capacity for both incommensurable beauty and destruction.

The idea of making a painting or drawing using processes and/or materials that normally wouldn’t fall into that category is very important to him. The final work represents an organization of seemingly chaotic content and situations, yet bound by a sense of structure, a common thread that has become prevalent in all of his work.

Keynote Speaker
Started working in glass in 1962 in Madison, WI and has worked in California for 48 years.www.marvinlipofsky.com

As a member of Harvey Littleton’s initial glass program, Marvin Lipofsky earned an MS and MFA in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He went on to found and head glass departments at the University of California, Berkeley (1964-1972) and the California College of Arts and Crafts (1967-1987). He was a founding member of the Glass Art Society; has been a board member of NCECA and the American Craft Council. Awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, he was also named a Living Treasure of California, and elected to the American Craft Council College of Fellows. In his travels, he collaborates with glassmasters from around the world. His unique sculptures are included in numerous private collections and more than 90 museums and corporate collections throughout the world.

What my glass tries to say cannot be separated from the forces that are used to create it. Glass becomes what it is made or born to be. I try not to get in the way. To flow with it while I dance along is enough for me.

Micheal Nourot, founding partner of Nourot Glass Studio has been making glass for over 40 years. He was born January 1949 in Riverside, California. Micheal was one of the first 16 students at Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington. He attended the first “Session” fall/winter of 1971–72. Working with founder’s Dale Chihuly and Jamie Carpenter, Mr. Nourot designed and helped build the first hot shop at Pilchuck.

Following the Pilchuck experience, Micheal left for Venice, Italy. There he apprenticed to glass master Checo Ongaro at Venini. Just a handful of Americans were allowed into the famed Italian glass houses in the 1970’s: Dale Chihuly, Richard Marquis, and Benjamin Moore, included. Formulas for the Nourot glass have their origins from this time.

Micheal’s Light Opera, founded in April 1973, in Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco, was his first studio. Soon afterward, Micheal Nourot formed a partnership with Ann Corcoran, also a CCAC alumni (whom he married in November ’74). On August 1, 1974 the Nourot Studio moved to Benicia, California where it is located today. The Nourots have three children, Lois, 31, Nick, 28 and Gabriel, 15.